William Beranek

Before L.A. fashion designer William Beranek sits down to an interview, he passes a slip of paper across the table. On it are his typewritten answers to a series of unasked questions. I design both my men's and women's collections for people who are a bit adventurous in their look. Hopefully, my designs are elegant and don't knock you over the head. Beranek is not a control freak trying to direct the conversation.

Before L.A. fashion designer William Beranek sits down to an interview, he passes a slip of paper across the table. On it are his typewritten answers to a series of unasked questions. I design both my men's and women's collections for people who are a bit adventurous in their look. Hopefully, my designs are elegant and don't knock you over the head. Beranek is not a control freak trying to direct the conversation.

The third time was a charm for L.A. designer William Beranek, who was named Designer of the Year by CaliforniaMart Monday. The Argentine transplant's William B. line had been nominated for the award twice previously. Jenisa Washington was chosen Emerging Designer of the Year for Sold Apparel, her line of lightweight leather tube dresses, camisole tops and skirts in solids, metallics and snakeskin prints. A force on the L.A.

Notorious * The many misfortunes of Robert Downey Jr. prove that prison is hard on the hair. * Geena Davis showed the world her assets on Emmy night. * Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris found that making up is hard to do in the national spotlight. Sweep It Under the Red Carpet * Some would argue that "South Park's" Matt Stone filled out his pink Gwyneth Paltrow-esque dress better than she did.

Roger Craig, the San Francisco 49ers star running back, has had a steady stream of modeling and acting jobs since he started appearing in Macy's California Passport fashion shows. Now he's doing ads for Calvin Klein underwear and for various drinks and shoes favored by jocks. And then there are his TV-host and exercise-video careers. If you think he's ready for a starring role in a movie, you're right: Craig plays a cop in a Roger Corman action film due out next month. NO MORE MR.

"We didn't even think they would show up," said Nancy Mather of Manhattan Beach, decked out in Lakers jersey, hat and shorts, unable to take her eyes off Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. Forget the competition; the 400 or so who gathered courtside at the Great Western Forum early Friday night were content to watch the Lakers play against each other for an hour. "This is totally cool," gabbed one middle-aged man into his cell phone.

With all the attention given to fashion designers in New York, Milan and Paris, those who live and work in Los Angeles often are overlooked within traditional fashion circles. But Sunday, the spotlight will be on William Beranek and Jenisa Washington, two local designers who will be formally receiving awards that were announced earlier from the CaliforniaMart at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood.

Ever wondered why the contestants in the Miss America pageant look like well-preserved 40-year-olds? So has Jeff Margolis. "Not that there's anything wrong with a 40-year-old woman," says the producer-director hired to give the pageant an overdue face lift. It's just that a parade of them doesn't garner the kind of ratings a parade of bubbly 19-year-olds might. And Miss America's Nielsens haven't measured up lately.

Here's a sooo SoCal story for ya, straight from the fashion front lines at Sunday night's CaliforniaMart Designer Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The Rising Star of the Year winner, Cynthia Vincent, kinda, sorta, more or less had a feeling she would take home the hourglass-shaped crystal trophy for her St. Vincent line. She's no clairvoyant, but Vincent said her friend and fellow nominee Monah Li "told me her psychic told her I was gonna win. She told me two weeks ago."

Even in the most refined hands, leather possesses a slightly sinister side. But its animalistic and dangerous past life as the apparel of choice for bikers, punk rockers and strutting antiheroes is helping designers solve one of the most difficult design challenges of recent seasons: making classic, almost stale, silhouettes hip. Cut a prim A-line skirt in leather and, suddenly, it's gone from schoolgirl to bad girl, with the attitude of both. That skirt is poised to become the key element in L.

HOW CAN WE MEASURE Henry Duarte's obsession? Begin with 84 pieces of denim, large and small, sewn into one pair of pants. Some are joined with seams like a spider web. Others are cut into ornate shapes, layered on top of each other. Still, Duarte wants more detail. So the lace-up fly has bronze grommets, hammered into place by hand, and the fabric is sanded to produce just the right fade. "More and more detail," he says.